‘Later’ by Hilary King

Symbiosis in the Afterworld
Louise Mather

Later

Ambition begins to leave me,
slipping away as if this were
my November, not my August.

I find I don’t mind. I put the pen
down, leave dreaming
to the pillow.

All I want now is to walk close
to the trees, reaching my hand out,
ready for it to be held.


Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Hilary King is a Pushcart-nominated and Best of the Web-nominated poet now living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Her poems have appeared in TAB, Salamander, Minerva Rising, Belletrist, Fourth River, The Cortland Review, SWIMM, and other publications.  @hrk299.


Louise Mather is a writer from Northern England and founding editor of Acropolis Journal. Her work is published in various print and online literary journals and her pamphlet The Dredging of Rituals is out with Alien Buddha Press. She writes about ancestry, motherhood, endometriosis, fatigue and mental health. Twitter @lm2020uk.